Officials of the two Koreas are holding working-level discussions at the truce village of Panmunjeom ahead of inter-Korean ministerial-level talks that are anticipated to be held this week.

The South's three-member delegation led by the chief of the Unification Ministry's Unification Policy Office, Chun Hae-sung, sat down with its North Korean counterpart Sunday morning. The meeting began at 10:15 a.m. at the Peace House located on the south side of the truce village. During a recess, Seoul and Pyongyang reviewed what was discussed at a 45-minute morning session, and the chief negotiators resumed talks for one hour until 3 p.m.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters in Seoul that the two sides discussed in the morning details related to holding an inter-Korean ministerial meeting this week, including protocol, location, the agenda and size of the delegation. The spokesman explained that the current contact is based on the mutual understanding that a ministerial meeting will be held on Wednesday. Kim said that the negotiators are working on achieving practical results at the talks.

Before heading to the talks, Chun told reporters that the meeting is a preliminary step to hold inter-Korean ministerial-level talks, which the South proposed last week. He added that the South Korean negotiators will stick to the spirit of the Park Geun-hye administration's trust-building policy to the North, which he said is aimed at gradual improvement of relations through handling small issues.

The three-member North Korean delegation was led by Kim Song-hye, a key official of the North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. She participated in previous inter-Korean ministerial talks held in Seoul and Pyongyang in 2005. During the funeral of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2011, she also escorted former first lady Lee Hee-ho as the widow of the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited the North to pay her condolences.

The talks on Sunday marked the first time for the two Koreas to hold an official governmental meeting since 2011 when their nuclear negotiators met in Beijing in September of that year. Also in 2011, military officials of the two Koreas met to discuss issues related to the North's sinking of a South Korean warship.

The last inter-Korean ministerial-level talks were held in 2007.